Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recent reports of the abduction of unaccompanied children from a Home Office residence in Hove, what urgent steps her Department is taking to ensure the (a) safety and (b) welfare of children who (i) are missing, (i) were missing but have been found and (c) are living at that residence.

The rise in dangerous small boats crossings means there are significant challenges on providing local authority care places for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). Out of necessity and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have accommodated UASC on an emergency and temporary basis in hotels while placements with local authorities have been vigorously pursued. This work is led by dedicated team leaders and support workers who provide 24/7 supervision

We take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure UASC in hotels are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All children receive a welfare interview which includes questions designed to identify potential indicators of trafficking or safeguarding issues and subsequent safeguarding plans are put in place.

Records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotel. Support workers will accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified.  The Home Office has no power to hold children in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.

When a young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. Missing After Reasonable Steps (MARS) is a new protocol which enables children’s homes and supported accommodation placements to have more ownership over the missing episodes of children within their care.

We engage with the local police and work in conjunction with the Local Authorities (LA) children’s services to invoke a missing child multi agency strategy meeting chaired by children’s services.